Neurological Rehabilitation Research at Bridgepoint Hospital

Dr. Michelle Nelson (University of Toronto, Bridgepoint Collaboratory for Research and Innovation, Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute)

Music listening is noted to have both psychosocial and cognitive benefits for stroke rehabilitation patients, whether mediated by a music therapist or not. In addition, hospital volunteers and staff with latent musical ability have been identified as a valuable and untapped resource to address post-stroke anxiety. This study, which took place between 2015-2017, aimed to pilot outcome measures and explore whether there are clinically meaningful changes to anxiety, patient experience, emotional well-being and functional improvement for individuals with stroke, conditioned by the empathy and musical aptitude of the volunteer; the model for these patient interventions is labelled in this study as “Empathic Musical Performance.”